The invention relates generally to electrical connectors, and more particularly to pluggable connectors that include differential pairs of mating contacts.
Electrical connectors used to plug a communication cable into an electrical system may include a housing that contains several conductors that form differential pairs. The differential pairs are configured to connect with corresponding differential pairs in a mating connector of the electrical system (e.g., a port) when the pluggable and mating connectors are engaged. However, pluggable connectors that are currently used may have certain limitations due to unwanted electromagnetic coupling between the differential pairs. For example, the operating speeds of M-series pluggable connectors are limited to transmission rates of less than one gigabit per second. If current M-series pluggable connectors were to operate at speeds above one gigabits/s or above five gigabits/s, the unwanted electromagnetic coupling between the differential pairs would harm signal integrity and the performance of the connector. For example, the increase in near-end crosstalk (NEXT), far-end crosstalk, and/or return loss may render the connector unable to meet industry requirements. Furthermore, it may be desirable to improve the insertion loss of such connectors.
Accordingly, there is a need for pluggable connectors that are configured to reduce the negative effects of electromagnetic coupling. There is also a need for pluggable connectors capable of operating at higher speeds and/or obtaining desired performances.